Post Bank a natural way to repeal acts of destruction

The call by the Small Business Institute for the creation of a Post Bank to offer basic business services to small enterprises looks like a winner. Research has also shown that individual account holders at high street banks as well as over 8 million people without a current bank account would support the set up of a Post Bank. The combination of small businesses and individual account holders would create a very significant Bank in competition with the current high street incumbents.

The Post Office has always been in the position to provide the services of a Post Bank but through bad management has failed to grasp the opportunity or understand the modern needs of the market. It's ironic that as the Post Office slims itself down and retrenches away from the high street across the UK that people are becoming appreciative of the services they are offering as the Banks incur their wrath. Is it too late for the Post Office to recover or is the way now open for Tesco and the other high street names to take over this huge business?

It looks certain that the existing high street banks will lose out in the retail market. Yesterday's announcement of £11bn profit by Barclays could become a thing of the past if the high street revolution takes place. Even Barclays will find it more difficult to maintain these profits if they lost all their retail and small business accounts.

The Banks have badly underestimated their customer's willingness to look for alternatives in the high street. The announcements of huge profits and bonuses in these times are as bad a PR exercise as you could wish to see. They may see their value in basic retail banking disappearing leaving them with just high risk Investment Banking. This would not necessarily be a bad thing for the industry as the split between wholesale and retail accounts could naturally be created without the necessity of a repeal of the Acts that began with ‘Big Bang' and ‘Glass Steagle' , which caused so much destruction during the financial crisis.